The present invention relates generally to wheel trim for motor vehicles and more particularly to simulated wire wheel trim for attachment to the axially outwardly facing surface of a vehicle wheel.
Simulated wire wheel trim have become extremely popular for ornamenting the axially outwardly facing surface of present day motor vehicle wheels. Typically, such simulated wire wheel trim are fabricated almost entirely from metal components such as and including elongated hollow tubular members to simulate the spoke members and various stamped sections of sheet metal which are then assembled and cooperate to provide a very realistically appearing simulation of a wire wheel. Because the wheel trim are attached to the vehicle wheel, the weight thereof increases the unsprung weight of the vehicle and hence may have a deleterious effect on the ride provided thereby. While various efforts have been made to reduce the overall weight of such wheel trim, the use of metal in and of itself imposes limitations to the effectiveness of these weight reduction efforts as it is still necessary to maintain sufficient strength to maintain the various components in assembled relationship.
The other important consideration in the fabrication of simulated wire wheel trim is the desire to minimize the cost of fabrication and assembly thereof. With the traditional simulated wire wheel trim fabricated from metal components, it has been necessary to individually assemble a relatively large number of components which results in increased costs for manufacturing thereof. While previously efforts have been made to reduce the overall number of components to be assembled, this has not been a simple matter as the reduction in components often results in a degradation of the realistic appearance presented by the completed wheel trim.
While there have also been prior attempts to design simulated wire wheel trim which include various components fabricated from plastic, these types of construction have still required the use of separate fasteners in order to secure the components in assembled relationship thus resulting in increased costs for assembly thereof.
The present invention, however, provides an improved, extremely realistically appearing simulated wire wheel trim which is designed to be fabricated substantially entirely of polymeric composition and requires assembly of only four individual components. Further, as each of the individual components incorporates integrally formed means for securing the assembly together, it is not necessary to assemble or install a plurality of separate fasteners as is often the case with other simulated wheel trim constructions.